So, I woke up this morning with a bloody nose (not an uncommon thing for me as of late).I've been trying to keep up with applying vasoline inside the nostrils at night, per nurse at my cancer clinic - but was too tired to do it last night.Anyhow, besides the bloody nose - I noticed a blood blister inside my mouth. I called the cancer center and was connected to my oncologist.He told me to go in and get another blood draw to check WBC and platelets - both of which I've been having issues with keeping up.Labs came back and my WBC were still elevated from the 4 zarzio shots I received last week, but my platelets are continuing to drop.I was at 99/150 at infusion day - last Tuesday. Now down to 77. Onc suggested to just monitor it for now - not too concerned unless platelets drop below 50.Also said if I start to bleed and it won't stop in 10-15 minutes, I would need to go into Emergency Room and get a blood transfusion.

This kinda scares the hell out of me. Never had any sort of blood transfusion, and would rather not have one unless completely necessary.Wondering if anyone else had to go this route for continued therapy.

As I stated in another thread, my ONC said he would give me the blessing to stop at 6 treatements (which I've now completed) - because of my bringing up the recent ASCO reports of 6 sessions being nearly as effective as 12. With the continued WBC and now platelet issue, it's giving me second thought on stopping now vs continuing to 8 treatments as I had discussed with my ONC and then reassessing from there.

Other than blood counts, neuropathy has been tolerable to me. Dealing with a little be more tingling fingers this round, but not so much that its effecting me much.

I went through almost exactly what you described toward the end of my FOLFOX therapy. Except I got neulesta for WBC instead of zarzio.

I needed two blood transfusions during treatment. Before the first I was scared but also really, extremely, insanely fatigued. More fatigue than I thought possible. They hooked me up to the blood and I’m telling you. I hadn’t felt that good since before cancer. The energy burst only lasted a relatively brief time, but overall the transfusion makes you feel a lot better. So, that’s my experience.

veckon wrote:I went through almost exactly what you described toward the end of my FOLFOX therapy. Except I got neulesta for WBC instead of zarzio.

I needed two blood transfusions during treatment. Before the first I was scared but also really, extremely, insanely fatigued. More fatigue than I thought possible. They hooked me up to the blood and I’m telling you. I hadn’t felt that good since before cancer. The energy burst only lasted a relatively brief time, but overall the transfusion makes you feel a lot better. So, that’s my experience.

Thanks for the response. It's helpful to know someone else went through some blood transfusion and that it was actually a good experience/outcome.So far, I have not had one. Hopefully I can pull through the next 2 treatments without one, probably going to stop at 8 cycles.

I've got too much concern with ongoing neutropenia, low platelets, and now some mouth sores that I'm concerned will get infected to make the full 12 cycles - I think.

Last night woke up and had extremely watery diarrhea, like I had taken scope prep.This is the first time I've experienced that, usually I start solid in the day and get more and more loose bowel movements towards end of day.

I took 2 immodium, showered, cleaned my shorts (yep, didn't quite make it in time :Blush) - drank 18 oz of water bottle and went back to bed.No fever, no reduced temp, blood pressure and pulse seem relatively normal and so far no bowel movement this morning. Had another 18 oz water around 5:00 this morning.I did have cinnamon tea last night with about tablespoon of apple vinegar. Not sure if that had anything to do with the runs, but was reading that cinnamon is particularly good for helping thrush and has antibacterial properties to help reduce chance of infection in the mouth.

Ahh well, gonna call the cancer center after 8 and discuss further. Thanks Veckon for the reply.I see you are so young and going through this, my heart goes out to you.

So today I went in to get my first of 3 zarxio shots.Right before I went in I got a bloody nose after doing the saltwater/bakinsoda mouth wash/gargling etc..So I tried applying some pressure for a few minutes, and just shoved a wad of toilet paper in as I was supposed to be at the appt right then.I went in and saw triage nurse and we drew blood again for counts. I had a draw on the 5th due to a blood blister that developed in my mouth.Things were looking decent WBC and ANC were still in normal range, but this morning my total WBC is down to 2.1 and ANC down to .44, platelets down to 50.Suspected Thrush in my mouth so prescribed magic mouthwash, which I tried picking up at Walmart - ugg - stood in line for 20 minutes mask fully donned only to find outthey don't carry it and would be until tomorrow before I could get it. Oh and my insurance doesn't cover it so would be 50 bucks. No big deal, but I wanted it today. I can deal with insurance later as this was a necessity for treatment.

Looking like treatment 7 is going to need to be delayed at this point, unless the counts come up.I do seem to take the full 14 days to see increases, but I don't think the platelets are going to come up much with the zarxio shots pushing them down further.

Still hoping to go through without blood transfusion, but that bloody nose this morning took a lot to stop it.It was still bleeding the entire time I was at the cancer center, but I had shoved the toilet paper in it.When I got home I pulled out the paper and a 4 or 5 inch strand of blood/clot came with it and still had some fresh blood.I wrapped some ice in wash cloth and pressed on it for around 5 minutes and now the bleeding has stopped.

Wish I didn't have these blood count issues. Neuropathy wise I've had minimal effects, but the counts are getting me down.